Pimco: Weak economy triggers portfolio change

By Kurt Brouwer

Bill Gross, Mohamed El-Erian and the rest of the Pimco brain trust foresee very weak economic growth in the U.S. and other developed countries. As a result, they are extending the duration (average weighted maturity) of Pimco Total Return (PTTRX). This is quite a change from earlier this year.

Mohamed El-Erian: Between concerned and scared

The impetus for these changes is a very weak economic outlook as expressed in this blog post from Pimco’s CEO Mohamed El-Erian [emphasis added]:

…At an event last week in Washington, I was asked about my feelings about the global economy. My response was “between concerned and scared.” …We are here because of the interactions of three distinct, yet inter-related forces: poor economic growth, excessive contractual liabilities, and disappointing policy responses. The result is that western economies are getting trapped by the lethal combination of an unemployment crisis, a debt crisis, and mounting fragilities in the banking sector.

The longer this persists, the greater the risk that even the healthiest parts of the global economy, and thankfully there are still quite a few, will get dragged into a prolonged period of economic and financial stagnation…

Earlier this year, Bill Gross thought higher interest rates were coming so he positioned the portfolio accordingly. Higher rates did not happen and, as all good portfolio managers do, he determined that his outlook was incorrect and he changed course. Here are two ways in which Pimco Total Return is changing its portfolio:

Going long & going overseas

Going long: The fund has gone about as long as it can go. In six months, it has increased the portfolio duration from 3.6 years to its current level of 7.14 years. Kevin Winters of Pimco gave me some clarification about the fund’s duration policy. The fund compares its duration to that of a bond index, the BarCap Aggregate Bond Index. Essentially, Pimco Total Return’s duration can be as much as two years less than the duration of the index. Or, it can be up to two years longer than the index duration. Right now, the fund is about two years over the index duration so Pimco is at the upper end of its policy range.

Going overseas: Another portfolio change is that the fund is moving more assets into securities from non-U.S. countries. The portfolio percentage in these types of securities is now 21% in bonds from developed countries alone plus a smaller amount in bonds from emerging markets. The foreign holdings include positions in securities from Canada, Great Britain and Mexico.

With these changes, Pimco is clearly taking a stand that economic activity across the globe is weakening and that interest rates will be soft. If Pimco’s view is correct, and I think it is, this bodes well for bonds, but not for the economy as a whole.

Here is a link to Pimco Total Return’s portfolio statistics through September 30, 2011.

About Fundmastery Blog

Kurt Brouwer is a fee-only financial advisor with three decades of experience. He is the chairman and co-founder of Brouwer & Janachowski, LLC. Kurt has written books, articles and hundreds of blog posts on mutual funds, ETFs and other investment topics. E-mail: kurt.brouwer *at* gmail.com.